Brenda, you're confu - 18:15, 14/10/2015

Brenda, you're confused about the diefcrfnee between a blog, a post and a comment. VAntage Point is a blog and I am a blogger that writes blog posts. You are a commenter that writes comments. When you said, When you can’t get a blog approved for almost a month you meant a comment that you wrote. That's not a blog. Comments are automatically approved. We don't have to do anything. But our spam filters catch those posts that contain email addresses and several links, which are trademarks of spam. The post you're talking about went in the queue because it had seven links, but also a personal email address. We don't allow email addresses to be posted unless authorized by the user of the email. I don't think you'd want your email address plastered in the comments section somewhere. Usually when this happens and it just has a few links, I'll just manually approve. But frankly, extraordinarily long comments are unacceptable. They make the page load longer and hijack the discussion. It looks sloppy. Not that you can't have substantive comments, but the comment you're talking about is almost 1,500 words. It's too much. I have hidden (not deleted) comments from other users that are as long or longer. They usually don't add to the discussion since they're just copied from somewhere else. If you want to reference a work somewhere else, provide a link. If our filter catches it because of the link, I will manually approve. You might be used to message boards, but most blogs don't allow abuse of the comment section by allowing excessive posts. We have no formal policy in place for comment length (I want to see a maximum put in place), so for now we use discretion. Also, I want to address what you said about the Jupiter Vet Center. You never asked me not to call. I still have the emails if you would like me to forward them to you.I've been the veteran who thought angrily, VA just doesn't get it! They're incompetent and lazy and don't care that I served in a war. So what you say about me not understanding holds no merit. I was in the military, got out and had difficulties with VA services just like your husband and I imagine every veteran, at some point. That might work on the old lady that checks people in at the medical center, or the young doctor fresh out of med school, but I almost got thrown out of my apartment because my GI Bill payment was very late. I work here because I want to make sure people receive information that I didn't, and I don't forget that. We can do better at answering comments. It's difficult, but it's part of the responsibility. We can also do better at getting those questions answered by the professionals. But you must understand the dynamic between this team and the other 299,997 employees. If we get a question, say, about VA home loans and forward it on, there's no guarantee that A) That person knows about the blog or understands how it works B) Can shift priorities to take the question C) That person will just ignore or lose it. Sadly, human beings in offices work on the capital system, and asking for any time or effort demands something in return. Also, not many people care I work on the blog. I've sent plenty of questions across VA that go unanswered, just like you. People are out of the office, on travel, away from their desk, working on a deadline, etc. People make the mistake that technology makes communication effortless. Humans are still involved. I learned that the first week, when I said to someone here, Maybe you can help.. and he cut me off immediately and laughed. I'd like everyone to care and help, but that's not realistic. Many VA employees are old curmudgeons and don't know or don't care about what we do. They try their best to avoid it and provide the least amount of help as possible. Can't blame them, but understand the environment we work in.I'll tell you right now that I'm not going to respond to every comment. I simply don't have that much time (and I've spent considerable time responding twice to you, along with other responses, a phone call on your behalf and personal emails). But we read them all. Once we get new members of the team and maybe an intern or two, we can lessen our work load and open more time to answering comments. I'm already desperate for time to write. That's why I take my work home on the weekends and work for you and 24 million veterans for free. I don't ask for that time back. Lauren has a terribly large work load and Kate is brand new, so that leaves me with thousands of comments to manage. Until we get more people, I'm just like the kid with a finger in the dam. If you would like to make a complaint to Brandon about my performance, you have the email to our shared inbox, but again it's I'm sure you, him and I will all agree that I could do a better job with comments.You tried to give design suggestions, and you succeeded. We need a place where people can make general comments and ask questions. I agree. We'll try to come up with something when the blog admin gets here. Doing something about the feedback we get was one of the selling points of the blog, but we have to get our workload to a manageable level first. It's the hierarchy of needs. We want to do it, realize it has to be done and understand people want it. It's going to happen, and we discussed it as late as yesterday afternoon. But it can't be done with sending one email or pushing a button.Lastly, I don't think it helps anyone to say silly stuff like you might try the little white pill. It makes light of serious issues people have. Don't be surprised I spoke frankly and didn't roll over (like you seem to expect VA employees to do). That's the point of the blog.We both said our piece, and I don't want to keep this going on in the comments section. If you'd like to respond, please send an email. You have the address.